This afternoon, a good turn out of Kurdish people and groups protested US non-involvement across the the US embassy and marched it up to Parliament hill in a light rain.
Here are a few minutes of that event.
"Objects in history may be closer than they appear" – Eeyore for Vlad
Let’s all remember that there were only fifty Americans in Syria not thousands. It’s not as if carriers and planes and thousands of troops were there to fight the Turks. And let’s not forget that Trump got elected on promises of “No more endless foreign wars…”. Consider that joining up with the PKK and going to war with Turkey would make Vietnam look like a traffic stop. Turkey is one of the most powerful countries in the Goddamn world!
Apparently, there are still there, as well as other allied countries.
And now, five European countries (Finland, Germany, France, Netherlands…) confirmed they will no longer ship weapons to Turkey.
I read that one country is sending forces to help out the Kurds (I forget which one).
And Trump set out sanctions, hard ones financially.
On another note, I read this morning that Tunisia voted in an Islamist Parliament because people didn’t bother to vote.
“Tunisia’s Moderate Islamist Party Ennahda to Lead Fractured New Parliament”
By Reuters – Oct. 9, 2019 – (No such thing as a moderate Islamist)
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2019/10/09/world/africa/09reuters-tunisia-election-results.html
The _WAY_ he did it was the killer.
Anybody who knows anything about history [Armenians], or pays attention to the Turk’s English-language media [Kurds aren’t human], would’ve taken that Sunday night telephone call differently.
Did no one inform Potus about AFRIN just last year? We had no presence there; Putin just watched from the sidelines. The ancient community of Kurds in western Syria was wiped out, hundreds of thousands displaced. Ethnically cleansed. Forever.
This time, our people in the field got the news via Twitter. (That’s true, by the way, not spin.) Sure, PT’s been talking about it for a long time, but to do it suddenly? No amber warning to those on the ground before green-lighting this filthy sultan-wannabe?
==>Paired with an invitation to the White House next month?! Reward in advance?<==
That’s the worst. Totally, utterly tone-deaf.
(Like inviting the Taliban to Camp David on 9/11.)
After the inevitable push-back, sanctions hyperbole. There he goes again. Qatari billions to the rescue, anyway.
So the Turk will get a quick rush from first Kurd blood, then pause for a bit till things cool. He’ll have delivered the infamous “Ottoman slap”. Left/right, secular/religious, they’re non-Turk so their lives are worthless.
PT gets a cheap applause line about “tribes” and “forever wars”. So cheap it’s borderline dishonest to tout as “promises kept”. An insignificant 50-100 American troops, when we have tens of thousands elsewhere.
==>…..The point is, the announcement served as the TRIPWIRE for the Turk, the message he was waiting for to pounce.…..<==
~ ~ ~
He’s still my President and I’m not arguing for War or Ships or Boots-on-the-Ground.
Anything and everything he does is Orange-Man-Bad to enemies in both parties and all the media. That’s a given. His base worships him no matter what. Voice the slightest misgivings, you’re a blasphemer.
Well, in this case he’s bungled badly. Not substance, process. We lose face: that’s not trivial, that’s costing blood. Right. This. Minute.
Unnecessary, but not the end of the world.
Putin must be laughing like a hyena. (I hate it when he’s happy.) Saintly, compassionate Uncle Vlad won’t let them bleed out.
I know what you mean, I don’t like the pull out either but I still don’t see how we could keep the Kurds resupplied. The only base we have that could be used to resupply them is in Turkey, Erdogan has some say about what we do on bases in his nation. (all of our allies have some say about what happens on bases in their nations) so where are we going to shift the resupply base to? Iraq? Syria? Trump inherited this mess and there is no good way out for the US.
If the Dems and the propaganda media weren’t so busy lying about everything he does there would be some other options besides pulling out, not necessarily good options but options. This isn’t being done in a vacuum the Dems are watching and are going to twist anything into something that can be used to attack him.
Those are tactical issues. Not relevant when he made that call. We could’ve – should’ve – deployed diplomatic pressure.
I don’t have a link, but Gen. Jack Keane, who turned down PT’s offer for Sec. of Defense said [paraphrase]: If he [PTrump] had told [the filthy Turk], ‘we own the airspace, we won’t allow an invasion’, that would have been sufficient.
I’m not fond of political generals, but I listen and think about what they say. They’re unanimous here. Lack of coordination with the Pentagon is a disaster.
Now our soldiers are scattering double-quick because nobody anticipated the Turk would advance so quickly. What a disgusting spectacle!
Jonathan Spyer summarizes Arabic coverage, “behave like a hapless, pathetic bystander waving in the mighty Turks as they come to slaughter those allies.
Weakness invites attacks, diminishes deterrence. We’re still powerful enough globally (economic sanctions, etc.) to be a force worth reckoning. Nonsense tweets, speak loudly and carry a tiny stick.
Sure, everybody will attack him all the time.
That doesn’t mean he can’t be criticized for a terrible decision. This one will cost more than a few pathetic, leftist Kurds.